China’s influence ‘is so huge that no one really dares to speak up,’ Lin says By Matthew Pennington, The Associated Press Posted: Dec 15, 2016 9:37 AM ET Miss Canada will be vying for more than the winner’s tiara when she competes in the annual Miss World pageant in Washington this weekend. Anastasia Lin […]

By Serena Dong, CNN Updated 0931 GMT (1731 HKT) December 28, 2016 Beijing (CNN)What do you get when you cross the year of the rooster with the year of Trump? A “yuge” statue. A giant rooster sculpture, sporting the President-elect’s signature hairdo and hand gestures, has been erected outside a shopping mall in Taiyuan, in […]

By ANDREW JACOBS – The New York Times – Wednesday, December 14, 2016 After the Chinese authorities blocked the Canadian beauty queen Anastasia Lin from attending the 65th annual Miss World pageant in China last year, the event’s British organizers offered her a consolation prize, of sorts: They promised to allow her a chance to […]

Sinosphere By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW OCT. 10, 2016 Chinese visitors at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea, during China’s weeklong National Day holiday. Credit Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters BEIJING — Two young Chinese tourists carve their names on the Great Wall. Hundreds of picnickers leave their garbage moldering on the banks of the Yellow River. […]

By TONY PERROTTET DEC. 9, 2016 Hudson Christie To judge from recent reports, Chinese tourists are running amok — brawling in airplane aisles, storming hotel buffets, carving their names on ancient monuments and leaving a trail of trash at beloved scenic spots and sacred Buddhist temples. Last year, the Chinese government became so embarrassed by […]

Jamie Fullerton in Beijing Drinkers are unwittingly knocking back fake alcohol brewed in bathtubs, which could lead to potentially serious health issues “Afriend and I bought a bottle of Cutty Sark whisky here once,” says Beijing-based marketing consultant Blake Stone-Banks, sitting on the terrace of a rough and rammed bar in Sanlitun, one of the […]